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I.\Mi;> A. RosK 



JAMES A. ROSE 

1850-1912 
/;z Memoriam 



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reprinted from the 

Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 

July, 1912 






NOV 14 i«»» 



I 



I 



JAMES A. ROSE. 



When on the afternoon of May 29th, 1912, it was flashed 
over the telephone and telegraph wires that the Secretary 
of State had been stricken by the hand of death, em- 
ploy6s and friends were loath to believe the intelligence. 
Just the day before he had been all day at the State Capitol, 
and had made his daily rounds, and performed his usual 
duties; he had given a kindly word to those he saw, asked 
after the sick and absent, and sent messages of encourage- 
ment and cheer to tliose who were sulffering or in sorrow; 
no one was forgotten. He staid at his office later than 
usual, as there had been a meeting of the State Board to 
canvass the returns of the primary elections of April 9th, 
of which board he was, by virtue of his office, a member. 
He made a call at the residence of his son who was sick and 
later sat on the porch at his residence. He retired early, 
but was taken sick at about 11 o'clock at night with 
hemorrhage of the stomach. A physician was called and 
every effort was ma-de to relieve the sick man, and for a 
time it seemed that he would be able to overcome the 
weakness caused by the intense suffering and the loss of 
blood, but other attacks followed and later the next day, 
an attack came on to which he succumbed at 3 :30 o'clock 
in the afternoon. 

Funeral services were held at the residence on Thursday 
afternoon, May 30th, at which time Dr. J. H. Stevenson 
of Seneca, Illinois, made an address on the life and work of 
Mr. Rose. Dr. Stevenson was an intimate personal friend 
of Mr. Rose, and was formerly the pastor of the Church 
of which he was a member. Hundreds called to do 
honor to him, many saying with tear-dimmed eyes, "He 
was the best friend I had in the world." The same evening 
at 8:00 o'clock a special train over the Illinois Central 
railroad took the remains of the dead Secretary, accom- 



panied by his family and employes, the Governor, Lieuten- 
ant Governor, State Auditor, State Treasurer, Attorney 
General, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, com- 
mittees of the Illinois Legislature and many other officials, 
to Golconda, Illinois, the former home of Mr. Rose, where 
services were held in the Presbyterian church, of which 
he and his family were members, and in which he had 
felt so much interest. The whole of the little town turned 
out to do honor to the memory of its foremost citizen, 
and finally all that is mortal of James A. Rose was laid in 
the little cemetery where were already lying a son who had 
died as a little child, and a beautiful young daughter who 
died eight years ago, and left a young husband and two 
little daughters. These children have been the consola- 
tion and joy of Mr. and Mrs. Rose, who gave them an 
especial tenderness and care. The death of this daughter 
was a severe blow to Mr. Rose, and life was not the same 
to him after that time. 

James A. Rose was a native Illinoisan. He was born 
at Golconda, Illinois, October 13, 1850. He was educated 
in the common schools and attended the Illinois State Nor- 
mal school at Normal. He began teaching school before 
he reached his majority. He was elected county superin- 
tendent of schools of Pope county in 1873, and in 1881, he 
was elected States' attorney of the county. During the 
administration of Gov. J. W. Fifer, he was a trustee of the 
State Reformatory at Pontiac, and later commissioner of the 
Southern Illinois Penitentiary at Chester. In 1896, he 
was elected Secretary of State on the Republican ticket; 
he was re-elected in^ 1900, 1904, and 1908. He had re- 
ceived an immense plurality vote for the nomination for 
the same office at the primary election April 9, 1912, and 
had thus received the nomination for a fifth term as secre- 
tary of the State of Illinois. 

On April 14, 1874, he married Miss Elizabeth Young, of 
Golconda, who survives him. He leaves also one son, 
Charles R. Rose, of Springfield, and one daughter, Helen 
E., the wife of James P. Smith, of Paducah, Ky. 



He was a member of the Historical Society almost from 
its organization, and he was its wise and far-seeing friend 
and counselor, ready to assist in any of its enterprises. 
He was a member of the Masonic order, and he was also 
an Odd Fellow. 

James A. Rose. 

The State of Illinois has lost an efficient and faithful 
public servant, but the people of Illinois have lost a friend. 
James A. Rose was a self-made man. He rose by his own 
efforts, and with these same efforts, he made the political 
fortunes of his friends. Every honor that he gained for 
himself, he shared with his friends, shared them generously, 
freely and with a simplicity that robbed favors of any 
tinge of patronizing. Had he been selfish or self-seeking, 
he might have easily achieved higher offices, and gained 
great wealth for himself. Mr. Rose was of humble origin 
as have been most of the great men who have made this 
state, but he came of a family who gave soldiers to the 
cause of the Union and who shed blood upon its country's 
battlefields. James A. Rose was but a child at the break- 
ing out of the war between the States, and it was a 
cause of grief to him that he was not old enough to have 
offered his life for his country. He loved to talk about the 
struggles of the Civil War, and to recount the deeds of the 
brave men of 1861-1865, particularly of the part taken by 
Illinoisans in the great struggle. 

At the annual meeting of the Illinois State Historical 
Society of 1907, Judge Jacob W. Wilkin, who was a young 
officer with General Grant at Vicksburg, gave a charming 
address on his own remembrances of General Grant. This 
address Mr. Rose knew nearly word for word, and he often 
repeated portions of it. 

Mr. Rose was a man of distinctly American type. The 
son of poor parents, he, by his own efforts, gained an edu- 
cation and made his way by hard work, earnest effort 
and self denial. These early struggles caused him to 
place a high estimate on education, and he never failed to 



assist in the cause of education, either for the individual, 
or for the people of the State. As popular as he was with 
the masses, it was necessary to know this man intimately 
to appreciate the real greatness and depth of his mind 
and character. He was not a man of learning in an 
academic sense, and yet he excelled most men in his 
knowledge of the histor>' of the countr>^ and the State, 
and in the fund of useful practical knowledge which he 
possessed. He loved good literature, and was especially 
fond of poetry. He was a bom lawyer, and would have 
made a good judge, as his was a logical and judicial mind, 
always able to see both sides of a question, even though 
he was a strong partisan. His friends were by no means 
confined to the political party in the councils of which he 
was for so many years a conspicuous leader. He was a 
remarkable judge of character, and could read the mind of a 
man like the pages of an open book. He could tell the 
false from the true, a real friend from a pretended one. He 
was a party man and a politician, and he took pride in this. 
He expected loyalty from his friends, but not in a greater 
degree than he gave it. He was a keen observer, a close 
student of human nature. His management of the im- 
mense affairs of the office which he filled was remarkable. 
In the fifteen years in which he filled the office, its im- 
portance had doubled and trebled, but he kept pace with it, 
and made it a model business office. He had his faults. 
He would be the last person to desire fulsome flattery or 
meaningless eulogy, but his faults were the faults of a brave 
and manly man. He was courageous, and true, and kind. 
To his family and those dependent upon him, he gave 
tenderness and love, all things in large measure, desiring 
only their happiness and well being. No man more than 
he knew the meaning and felt the responsibilities of friend- 
ship. To be called by him, his friend, meant something 
to him, and he gave the best of himself to that relation. 
Death was not an enemy to him. He was not called 
upon to bear a long sickness. This he feared and dreaded. 
But he has been suddenly called away from his manifold 



MB 1 a 6 



activities, his heavy responsibilities and the cares of State. 
He will no more answer the call of duty. The hand of 
death has stilled the loyal, generous heart, and has dulled 
his ear forever to all praise or blame. 

The following lines are from a poem which was a favor- 
ite with Mr. Rose and which he often quoted, speaking 
feelingly of its beauty and pathos: 

Sunset and evening star, 

And one clear call for me. 

And may there be no moaning of the bar 

When I put out to sea. 

Twilight and evening bell, 

And after that the dark. 

And may there be no sadness of farewell 

When I embark. 

But such a tide as moving seems asleep. 

Too full for sound and foam 

When that which drew from out the boundless deep, 

Turns again home. 

A prominent newspaper of the State has said of him: 

James A. Rose. 

Illinois will feel lonely without James A. Rose. It 
seemed as if this kindly figure, dignified with that simple 
stateliness that is a part of "court life" at Springfield, was 
too intimately associated with the old state ever to be 
parted from her. 

At Washington they have their rules of precedence and 
etiquette. In "official" society, diplomats. Cabinet min- 
isters, senators, their wives and daughters are figures of 
fixed social value. The same customs prevail at Spring- 
field, but with an element of intimate friendliness that 
keeps them democratic. In this circle, as Secretary of 
State, Rose lived for years, and it is difficult for an "up- 
stater" to realize how big a place he held in it. The govern- 
ment of Illinois means more under the shadow of the capi- 



8 

tol dome and the Lincoln monument than it does in the lee 
of a Chicago skyscraper. And to thousands and thous- 
ands of Illinoisans, Secretary Rose shared with the 
governor the honor of symbolizing the government. 

In his administration of his department since his en- 
trance into control of it in 1897, Mr. Rose had a record of 
the old style of bureaucratic efficiency. Free from scandal, 
liberal in extending departmental assistance to legislators, 
keeping the routine work up to date, loyal to the Republi- 
can party, James A. Rose made an official of a kind that 
we think of too lightly in these days of panting progress. 
Illinois will be put to it to find a better servant or a better 
friend. 



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